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"THE SECRET TO SCALING A MOUNTAIN" is now available on iTunes!

What I say:
My name is Elli, and I make music. From where I stand, that covers it. But just in case you want some talking points...
-I write, I sing, and I play any instrument you put in front of me. Weapon of choice is usually a guitar, or a ukulele (yes, seriously)
-I'm an acoustic guitar nerd. Try me.
-I've had the honor of sharing the stage and touring with some incredibly fine musicians (and some of my all time favorite songwriters), including Kevn Kinney (of Drivin' N Cryin'), Sonya Kitchell, I Nine, Ryan Bingham and The Dead Horses, The Clumsy Lovers, Brad Barr (of The Slip), Pete and J, The Madison Square Gardeners, Steven Fiore, Chris Unck and The Black Roses, and many, many more
-I've toured across the US, and made my way across Europe by busking on street corners



What they say:
"Elli Perry knows exactly who she is.
She’s comfortable with the sound of her own voice and with the image she sees in the mirror.
With every word, every chord, every single melodic utterance, she clears a path that leads us straight to her deepest thoughts, dreams and fears. That’s the place she calls home.
Elli’s earliest and fondest memories are set to music. It’s been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. “My parents said that I would hum myself to sleep as an infant,” she recalls, “and my father swears that my first words were Beatles lyrics.”
Though Elli can’t attest to her precociousness as a baby, she has no trouble recalling her early days as an adolescent poet and lyricist and she remembers vividly the day she fell in love with the guitar. “When I was 11, my mother and I decided to get my dad an acoustic guitar and guitar lessons for his 50th birthday. As soon as the guitar came home, I was done for. I started playing a few months later and was hooked.”
It was then that Elli acknowledged what she always knew: that she was destined to make music. “It was something that I felt innately,” says the 22-year-old Atlanta native. “Of course, I had dreams, like all little kids do, about being a marine biologist or an astronaut, but I always knew on a deeper level that this was what I wanted to do with my life. It was the only thing that ever really made sense.”
Though she was smitten with music and determined to make it her calling, Elli had other influences that made it easy for her to follow her heart. “I am the fortunate offspring of two writers,” she says, “so I suppose my intended vocation was somewhat inevitable. My parents indulged and nurtured my creative pursuits. Any time I wanted to join a new art class or dance class or book club or learn a new instrument, I was pushed to follow through. From the time I was born, my folks seemed to know that they wound up with a strange bird on their hands, but they always encouraged me to be just who I was.”
On her new CD, “The Secret to Scaling a Mountain,” Elli soars effortlessly as her rich, silvery vocals glide over emotion-ridden lyrics, telling stories mined from her own experiences. From the deeply introspective “Atonement” and the spirited, infectious “Wait” to the autobiographical “The Vagabond” and the liberating “Just Like A Train,” “The Secret to Scaling a Mountain” takes us where Elli lives and invites us to roam freely through the corridors of her life.
While her music is consistent in its tendency to tug at the heart and pick at old wounds, it is by no means easily boxed. Trying to stuff it into a neat little package is challenging if not impossible – even for Elli. “I always have such a difficult time defining or describing my music stylistically,” she admits, “but I know what it feels like. It's very honest. Often times, it's gritty and dark. But I think there's a lot of optimism behind it.”
“Scaling a Mountain” is that rare find that true lovers of music will want to keep to themselves but simply can’t resist sharing with others. Even as they bristle at its honesty, they’ll inevitably soak in its beauty. And Elli’s masterful blending of styles makes it a true musical feast. “I tend to flirt with a lot of different genres,” she notes. “There's a pretty heavy hit of the blues to it and I think it's indicative of being from the South, but it's not quite country. There's a strong jazz backbone to a lot of the songs and there's influences of folk music and traditional singer-songwriters. Sometimes I write stuff that really rocks out and sometimes I end up writing pop songs. My music changes so much for me from one song to the next. I've never written to try to appeal to one specific genre or audience. It tends to just morph on its own.”
Lying underneath all those different styles are the telling lyrics, the stories that define Elli Perry and the peaks and valleys that are her life. “My music is very honest,” she notes, “and more often than not, very much an extension of who I am.”
Elli realizes that her ability to leave it all on the table when it comes to songwriting renders her vulnerable and exposed to the world but for her, holding back is not an option. “I know what I'm getting myself into by putting pieces of myself into my songs,” she says. “Most of the time, I'm comfortable with that. But, the reality is that you're offering up your heart for people to listen to and to form their own judgments about. That can be hard. I'm most comfortable on stage performing live, but it's also where I'm the most vulnerable. Sometimes I feel like I've just taken off all my clothes and I'm standing on stage naked in front of an audience -- but I'm okay with that.”
Being comfortable even in her nakedness is what makes Elli Perry relatable and real to her audience. Fans are drawn to her unselfishness and her ability to bare her scars with the same confidence that she dons her tattoos, entrusting them with the most sacred of all gifts: words, music and stories that flow straight from her heart.
When it’s all said and done – when every chord has been struck and every melody has been sung – the world will know exactly who Elli Perry is."

Budapest

Special thanks to claytonbozardphotography.com and to myspace.com/phivestarrproductions for the youtube.com/elliperrymusic film footage.